To hold chassis components such as control arms, suspensions, etc, motor vehicles (passenger cars and utility vehicles) comprise a support structure in the form of an axle support or auxiliary frame. This axle support distributes the loads to suitable connection points on the body and at the same time also offers an elastic decoupling of the chassis relative to the body. The elastic decoupling is particularly advantageous in relation to driving comfort and the acoustics during driving. Moreover, the axle support also serves to facilitate the fitting of the chassis as a pre-assembled module.
From the prior art axle supports are known, which consist of welded metallic structures made for example from steel sheet or cast aluminum assemblies combined with extruded sections. Furthermore, from the prior art it is also known to make axle supports from fiber-reinforced plastic.
For example, from DE 695 22 950 T3 a front and/or rear suspension assembly with a substantially Omega-shaped chassis component made from fiber-reinforced plastic is known, which is integrated in a two-shell auxiliary frame. The auxiliary frame can be made from steel, aluminum or magnesium. Alternatively, the auxiliary frame can also be made from fiber-reinforced plastic.
Until now, due to the complex requirements relating to mechanical properties such as strength and rigidity at the force transfer points of the known auxiliary frames or axle supports, there has still not been any solution for economical mass production. In that respect it is particularly problematic that the known designs require elastic mountings, for example in the form of rubber mountings, which have to be designed in such manner that they have high elasticity parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, but high rigidity perpendicular to that axis. An additional disadvantage of the known designs is, moreover, that in the case of axle supports or auxiliary frames made from fiber-reinforced plastic, during production a lot of excess material is produced at the corners, which has to be removed, in particular cut away in an additional process step.